Cubs back Arrieta to win series vs. Astros | MLB.com

The Cubs magic number is five!

David Ortiz moves into 18th on home run list | MLB.com

This is far down on his list of big homers but it’s meaningful nonetheless.

The Japan Times: Carp fans savor end of 25-year championship itch

Always good to see a different team win. In my case, especially when it’s the one you root for.

The Hiroshima Carp have strived for the moment for 25 years, and their fans are full of emotion about the team’s long-awaited league championship.

On Saturday night, the Hiroshima Carp finally sealed the deal, winning their first Central League pennant since 1991 with a 6-4 win over the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome.

Athletics release Billy Butler

The Athletics have released first baseman/designated hitter Billy Butler, as first reported by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Butler, 30, hit .276/.331/.403 with four home runs in 85 games in his second season with Oakland after signing a 3-year, $30 million deal last winter. The A’s will pay him almost $12 million next season as part of that contract.

Butler’s deal with Oakland was a puzzling one when completed, and the former Royal hit just .258/.325/.394 with 19 home ...

Can We Move This Along?

Once upon a time, the average ballplayer was paid about the same as a factory foreman, and the games were almost the length of a movie. Alas, those days aren’t coming back, but even progressive, analytics thinkers know today’s game has to change.

“Pace of play is vitally important on many fronts, mainly with the entertainment product that’s out there for younger viewers,” says Brian Kenny of MLB Network. “And not just because, ‘Oh, these millennials have no attention span.’ No, how ...

Bunting continues to vex Minnesota Twins hitters

Their problem has been identified.

Groin injury puts A.J. Pollock’s season at risk

A.J. Pollock’s lost season.

Andre Ethier makes long-awaited 2016 debut with Dodgers - The Orange County Register

Just short of six months after suffering a spiral fracture in his right tibia when he fouled a ball off his right shin during a spring exhibition game, Ethier was activated from the disabled list and made his season debut 141 games into the season.

“It was a long summer,” Ethier said. “Those guys (on the medical staff) did a good job. Glad to be back. Ready to contribute.”

Sunday Notes: Brewers’ Erceg, Francona’s Computer, Lamb’s Power, Miller, more | FanGraphs Baseball

Terry Francona didn’t have a computer when he managed in Philadelphia, although he did write out match-ups on the back of the lineup card every day, which he equates to dabbling in sabermetrics before having learned the word. He did have a computer when he was the bench coach in Oakland. Ditto in his managerial stints in Boston, and now Cleveland.

Francona said on Friday that he loves getting information that makes him think. (He jokingly added that he probably makes Sky Andrecheck, the ...

Boston Red Sox plan to leave Yoan Moncada on bench down the stretch - Boston Red Sox Blog- ESPN

The guy is an incredible talent. That talent needs to be refined.

Farrell said Moncada can benefit from simply watching games from the dugout and asking questions of his veteran teammates.

“If you notice in the dugout, he’s in and around a number of guys, and that’s done on purpose to just walk through game situations, to think the game, to rehearse certain things,” Farrell said. “When he finds himself back in the spots, hopefully he’s lived it in his mind a little bit.”

Said Moncada: “What ...

Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez delivers the bad news for Joe Maddon - Chicago Cubs Blog- ESPN

Joe Maddon is the best.

“Perfect example was last year,” Martinez said. “Anthony Rizzo says, ‘I want to play 162 games.’ All of a sudden we get to the playoffs and he said, ‘Man, I was tired.’ So I tell him, ‘Hey, take your days off. That’s why we’re in the position we’re in. Take them. Relax.’”

Rizzo talked his way into the lineup on Wednesday, but you can bet he’ll get a day off soon. Maddon usually has good reasons ready for the tough conversations. Last week he ...

Rays’ Archer shares thoughts from Tebow to anthem protests | Tampa Bay Times

On 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s stance of not standing for the national anthem:

It’s his constitutional right, and everybody chooses different ways to get their message across. It’s a little bold for me personally, but he has the right. And it seems like he’s putting other actions behind it, too, monetarily and getting out in the community (like talking to military veterans). And that’s the most important thing for me.

Taking a knee during the national anthem, that’s one thing. We ...

Terry Collins’ strategical blunder costs Mets — and hurts Flores | New York Post

What was the bench coach doing?

You could see the pain in Terry Collins’ eyes.

This loss was on him and he knew it. And as soon as the 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Braves was complete Saturday night at Turner Field, Collins fell on his sword.

He blew it.

He did not pinch run with two outs in the eighth inning and Wilmer Flores on second base after Flores crashed a ball near the top of the center-field fence for a double.

The Mets roster is bulging with players in September, and Collins did ...

What I’ll never forget about baseball’s return to New York after 9/11 | FOX Sports

Fifteen years later, I know I was silly to be upset about the debate over when play should resume. The debate was appropriate. Baseball had to return at some point. But at the time, it was difficult to see things clearly, to remove the emotion from the moment.

The sadness was overwhelming. I remember welling up with tears several times a day after the attacks, for no particular reason. I well up even now thinking about those days, and I’m sure many of you do the same. But when I flash back ...

You know who’s not surprised by what Dustin Pedroia is doing? Dustin Pedroia - WEEI | Rob Bradford

The Laser Show has been operating at full power this season.

It’s impossible to know how Pedroia’s future will unfold. He is signed with the Red Sox through 2021 after his eight-year, $110 million extension. (He would have been a free agent after last season under his old deal.) Using this season as a guideline, however, and the Red Sox should be optimistic regarding the evolution of their second baseman.

But here’s the problem: Why many sit back and look at what Pedroia doing with some sense ...

You can try to intentionally walk Gary Sanchez but he’ll just hit an almost-homer anyway | MLB.com

He almost hit it out with a softball skip.

Rich Hill pulled out after seven perfect innings in Dodgers’ win over Marlins - LA Times

I get Hill’s anger but, with his injury history, I can’t blame Roberts.

The suffering stretched across the face of Dave Roberts. His eyes brimmed red. His stomach roiled with discontent. He had never before experienced a win that felt like a loss, not until Saturday’s 5-0 Dodgers victory over the Miami Marlins, when he made a decision that protected Rich Hill’s health, incited Hill’s rage and invited heartache into the manager’s office.

“I’m going to lose sleep tonight,” Roberts ...

Nick Cafardo: Ben Cherington’s ‘mistakes’ not so bad anymore

Ben Cherington got hosed.

Surely, those two players will be high atop Boston’s list of candidates for Ortiz’s potential replacement. Carlos Beltran, Mark Trumbo, and Mike Napoli would all be candidates as well. Or the Red Sox could fill the vacancy from within. But signing a big-name hitter would mean giving up a No. 1 draft pick.

The Red Sox don’t need to fill the DH spot. With the 80 man bullpens the team could use the spot to get an extra position player onto the roster and to use the ...

OMNICHATTER Sept. 11, 2016

The OMNICHATTER was never pulled from a perfect game after 89 pitches

Perhaps you guys were wrong about Gary Sanchez

Enough with the Jesus Montero comparisons.  Take a look at this:

Not to mention another routine home run into Monument Park.

Hector Olivera found guilty of assault, sentenced to jail

Former Atlanta Braves outfielder Hector Olivera was found guilty on a misdemeanor domestic assault charge in a Virginia courtroom and was ordered to serve 10 days in jail on Thursday.

Olivera appeared before an Arlington County (Va) General District Court judge, who presided over, issued the guilty verdict and levied the sentence on the assault charge in a bench trial. Olivera was sentenced to 90 days in jail, although the judge suspended 80 days of that sentence, according to court records.

...

Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw returns with short outing | SI.com

He must actually be human after all.

Beyond his surviving Friday night’s outing, the big question is how Kershaw will feel Saturday as he recovers and builds towards not only Wednesday’s start but also the three more beyond that prior to the end of the regular season. He returns to a playoff race that looks vastly different than when he went down. Without him, the Dodgers improbably posted the league’s second-best record, going 38–24 while swinging the NL West race by 13 games, from eight ...

Emergence of Sandy Leon has saved Red Sox at catcher - Sports - providencejournal.com - Providence, RI

Leon credits his transformation to winter-ball work with his manager Eddie Perez and general manager Carlos Guillen in Venezuela. Leon ditched a crouched stance at the plate and stood taller, which has allowed him to use his hands more readily.

“He learned how to use his hands,” assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez said. “He used to lean down and then come up with his swing, which created a lot of rotation…. When you focus on your hands, you eliminate movement with your body.”

Leon was ...

The rebirth of Justin Verlander

Now?

“Being a celebrity in general, you lose privacy,” Verlander said. “There’s a societal problem right now with celebrities not having privacy, and the way the laws are written, it protects other people, not celebrities. The laws were written before the world turned into what it is now with social media and everyone being a paparazzi. It’ll be changed, I think.

“There just need to be more rights for celebrities. And I know that could come across as ‘Wah, wah, wah, here’s ...

Danny Salazar of Cleveland Indians leaves Minnesota Twins game with forearm tightness

He hasn’t been right for a while. Will they be able to nurse him though to the playoffs?

Cleveland Indians pitcher Danny Salazar left his start after four innings Friday night against the Minnesota Twins because of tightness in his right forearm.

The Indians announced that Salazar was pulled as a precaution.

Salazar was on the disabled list for elbow inflammation a month ago, but manager Terry Francona said this issue was muscular and not structural.

“We’ll see how he feels, and then we’ll go ...

Red Sox rout Blue Jays; AL East lead at two | MLB.com

I remember when 20 wins really meant something. Nevertheless, right now his pitching places him 8th on WAR ranking for starters in the AL. If he wins at least a couple more games, it will be interesting to see what the voters do.

Right-hander Rick Porcello became the Majors’ first 20-game winner this season by limiting Toronto to a pair of runs while striking out seven over seven innings during Boston’s 13-3 victory. He scattered six hits and walked just one as the Red Sox increased their lead ...

OMNICHATTER 9-10-16

OMNICHATTER
M
N
I
C
H
A
T
T
E
R

Jerry Reinsdorf, who has always preferred baseball, is entering the Basketball Hall of Fame

Jerry Reinsdorf will be enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday. At first glance, his résumé looks unassailable. Reinsdorf won six titles as the owner of the Chicago Bulls, and became the third owner ever to win a championship in two of the four major American sports when the White Sox won the World Series in 2005.

Yet with his induction into the Hall of Fame, Reinsdorf has achieved his most striking accomplishment yet: reaching basketball’s highest honor despite being far ...

Tyler Glasnow MLB Pipeline Pitcher of the Year | MLB.com

He has a way to go.

One thing Glasnow wants to do is improve his walk rate and overall command. It was one of the few statistical categories that the big right-hander didn’t improve this season, as he walked 5.2 per nine in the Minors (up from 4.4 per nine in his career).

“I definitely have to work on the consistency,” Glasnow said. “I don’t want to lose any stuff, the stuff that got me those numbers. I think I need to be able to go out and do it every fifth day. There’s obviously going to be ...

Ask The Industry: The Ones Who Got Away

Rather than just think about it, I decided to act. I asked four scouts who the best baseball player they saw who didn’t end up making their living on the diamond was, and whether or not they felt like they ever had a shot to sign them.

NL East Scout: Jake Locker — “He had as high of an upside as any player I scouted in the Northwest in that timeframe. That might not seem like much to you, but that region has produced some good players. Locker had everything. He was a top of the charts ...